Angela Duckworth had a rough start with her first class in neurobiology – she failed the first two exams. She was advised to drop the course. But she refused to quit. Instead she believed that she could figure it out if she worked harder and got more help. It was … Read More
Month: November 2017
“Is the soul solid, like iron?”
The poet Mary Oliver continues: “Or, is it tender and breakable, like the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?” With these questions, Oliver opens the poem “Some Questions You Might Ask,” which has inspired artists, videographers, and hundreds of bloggers. During this Thanksgiving weekend, … Read More
Best Books for College Teachers in 2017
“Sadly, the reality is that more and more students entering the educational pipeline have had curdled childhoods.”
It is not poverty per se that distinguishes these students, Karen Gross writes, but it’s a childhood burdened by “hunger, exposure to or experience with drugs, alcohol, abandonment, frequent moves, abuse, self-harm or harm of others.” Do we know which of our students have had these experiences? Probably not. I … Read More
“My students call this a ‘quarter-life crisis.’”
Cathy Davidson, author of The New Education, describes the twenty-fifth birthday parties that many of her college students throw “to commemorate their collective indecision and existential sense of uselessness.” They have degrees, credentials, and honors, but few job prospects. Davidson argues that these students have been given “a raw … Read More